Research Publications at the University of Latvia – Challenges and Opportunities

1. Research Publications at the University of Latvia –Challenges and Opportunities Indra Dedze, Ph.D. University of Latvia Academic Department e-mail:indra.dedze@lu.lv

2. Structures supporting research publications Author

3. Key functions of the library at the UL • Providing access to the research literature databases through KIS consortium (currently access to 19 data bases, e.g, EBSCO, Sage, ProQuest,etc,) • Developing and maintaining the catalog of the titles of the research publications of the academic staff. Library

4. Key functions of the publishing house “Akadēmiskais apgāds” at the UL • Publishing research literature, textbooks, conference proceedings; • Providing the UL library with 5 copies of each published unit; • Providing editors and authors with the .pdf format of the publication; • Distributing the publication through bookstores and internet bookstores. Publisher

5. Key functions of the editors of the research journals at the UL • Responsible for the choice of the submitted research papers; • Responsible for the content of the journal including language editing; • Responsible for representative and efficient editorial board; • Responsible to offer the journal to the scientific paper data bases. Editor

6. Research Journals at UL • Journals published by the UL Publisher “Akadēmiskais apgāds”: • Baltic Journal of Psychology (bi-annually); • Baltu Filoloģija (bi-annually); • Ceļš (annually); • Proceedings of the University of Latvia;

7. Proceedings of the University of Latvia • Established in 1921 as Acta Universitatis Latviensis; • Since 1929 is published in series, approximately 10 volumes per annum until 1940; • Renewed in July 1st, 2002 in 23 series • Since 2004 are published 86 volumes(ISSN*1407 – 2157). *ISSN =International Standard Serial Number

8. Proceedings of the UL

10. Research Journals at UL • Journals published by the research institutes at the University of Latvia: • LU FSI – Reliģiski – filozofiski raksti; • LU LVI – Latvijas Vēstures institūta žurnāls (quarterly); • LU LFMI Letonica (annualy); • LU FI Mageto-Hydro Dynamics (quarterly); • LU PMI Mechanics of Composite materials (six times per year); • LU Center for Cognitive Sciences and Semantics. The Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication (with Kansas State University);

11. Research Journals in Research data bases Database • Proceedings of the University of Latvia: www.lu.lv Biology Google Scholar; • Baltic Journal of Psychology ------; • Baltu Filoloģija CEEOL; • Ceļš Ulrichweb; • Reliģiski – filozofiski raksti ------; • Latvijas Vēstures institūta žurnāls ------; • Letonica ------; • Magneto-Hydro Dynamics ISI Web of Science; • Mechanics of Composite materials ISI Web of Science+16; • The Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication DOAJ;

12. Science Citation Index (2003-2008) * LU Akadēmiskā departamenta dati

13. Social Sciences Citation Index (2003-2008) * LU Akadēmiskā departamenta dati

14. Arts & Humanities Citation Index (2003-2008) * LU Akadēmiskā departamenta dati

15. Conclusions • Academic staff of the University of Latvia annually publish on average 3000 research papers; • Only fraction of them are available on the ISI Web of Science and other research databases; • Journal editors insufficiently contacted research databases for placing there the research papers; • Most of the UL research journals are published regularly, but not all series of Proceedings of UL are published regularly; • Limited availability to purchase or subscribe the research journals published by the University of Latvia and its Institutes (particularly for the readers from abroad);

16. Recommendations (1) • For the management of the University of Latvia: • To facilitate the library with the institutional repository to collect the research papers developed by the academic staff of the University of Latvia; • To facilitate the publishing house with the opportnity to distribute research publication throgh the UL webpage paying with Credit Cards; • Ask the publishing house to contract DOI* registring agency to obtain DOI index for each published unit; *DOI index – Digital Object Identifier

17. Recommendations (2) • For the publisher “Akadēmiskais Apgāds”: • On the AA webpage for each journal or book make direct link to the Internet bookstore, so the reader can purchase the unit without search the title again; • To find the possibility for distributing research publication through the UL webpages paying with Credit Cards and in different languages – Latvian, English, Russian; • Become the distributor of DOI* index for each published unit at UL; • In order to better facilitate research papers for Sciences, attract the specialist familiar with LaTeX environment; • Publish Proceedings of UL as a Digital Printing using short print runs.

18. Recommendations (3) • For the library: • Continue to develop and maintain the catalog with the titles of the research papers of the academic staff of UL; • Continue facilitating the access to the research databases tthorough the KIS ; • Ensure at least one access to the ISI Web of Science in Latvia; • Develop and maintain the institutional repository to collect the research papers developed by the academic staff of the University of Latvia.

19. Recommendations (4) • For the journal editors: • To ensure the quality of research papers through blind reviews; • To ensure regularity of the journal by using the advantages of e-publishig – each new volume start with one or two articles and then gradually add other papers; • Search the opportunities to cooperate with the research data bases – offer papers to CEEOL, EBSCO, Google Scholar, Scopus, etc.; • Estimate the approximate number of DOI needed annually and inform publisher “Akadēmiskais apgāds”.

20. Recommendations (5) • For the authors: • To publish research fingings in the internationally recognized journals, that are included in the ISI Web of Science; • Encourage editors to offer papers to the research data bases such asCEEOL, EBSCO, Google Scholar, Scopus, etc.;